CHAPTER VII. 

 SWINE-PLAGUE. 



THE bacillus of swine-plague, or the Bacillus suisepti- 

 cus of Loffler and Schutz, and Salmon and Smith, so 

 closely resembles that of chicken-cholera that it is easily 

 confounded with it, and, indeed, at one time, they were 

 thought to be identical. The species has, however, suf- 

 ficient well-marked characters to make its differentiation 

 clear (Fig. 115). 



Swine-plague is a rather common and exceedingly 



FIG. 115. Bacillus of swine-plague (from photograph by E. A. de Schweinitz). 



fatal disease. It occurs alone or in combination with 

 hog-cholera (q. v.\ and because of the lack of suffi- 

 ciently well-characterized symptoms sick hogs appear- 

 ing more or less alike it is often mistaken for that 

 disease. The confusion resulting from the mixed cases 

 makes it impossible to determine exactly how fatal swine- 

 plague may be in uncomplicated cases. 



420 



